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Jewish Activists Feel The Heat
Of Impending Budget Crunch
.
JAMES D. BESSER
Washington. Correspondent
I
t doesn't take a crystal
ball to realize that the
overwhelming issue of
1989 will be the runaway
federal budget deficit — and
already, a wide range of
issues close to the hearts of
Washington's corps of Jewish
activists are feeling the heat
from the simmering budget
battle.
"There's no question that
the expectation of budget pro-
blem.s is affecting everything
we're doing' said Judy Golub,
assistant Washington repre-
sentative of the American
Jewish Committee. "We're
watching foreign aid to Israel,
of course. But there are
dozens of important domestic
programs that could be
drastically affected!'
Jewish activists are run-
ning headlong into the harsh
realities of the deficit issue.
"What we're seeing is the
results of three years of
neglect of this issue," said an
official with one major Jewish
organization. "You can't keep
putting it off forever; now that
the election is past, the
realization is settling in that
it's time to pay the piper!'
In recent weeks, prelimi-
nary strategy meetings on a
range of domestic legislation
have been distracted by the
budget issue. Early this week,
a coalition of Jewish groups
met under the auspices of the
National Jewish Community
Relations Advisory Council to
map out a battle plan.
"If Bush is serious about
his 'flexible freeze,' all of us
who are interested in these
issues will find ourselves just
holding the line," said Sam-
mie Moshenberg, Washington
representative for the Na-
tional Council of Jewish
Women. "It will be difficult to
make new programs a prior-
ity while we're just trying to
prevent losses. It will be a
very competitive environ-
ment, and we're already ask-
ing ourselves some tough
questions."
Jewish groups here ac-
knowledge the inevitability
of some major cuts — and are
hard at work developing
strategies to limit the
damage.
One strategy is in the talk-
ing stage; according to
sources, several big Jewish
groups may band together to
urge a tax increase as the on-
ly reasonable solution to the
budget quandary.
"If you're not for raising
taxes, you're for cuts in pro-
grams," said Steve Silbiger,
Washington representative
for the American Jewish Con-
gress. "Nobody has repealed
the laws of addition and sub-
traction!'
Federations
Join Battle
For Homeless
In one of the first skir-
mishes of the Budget Battle
of 1989, a Jewish group
played a major role in
forestalling cuts to a program
to aid the homeless.
The Office of Management
and Budget (O.M.B.) is collec-
ting data and making recom-
mendations for the budget
which will be introduced in
early January.
In the process, O.M.B. offi-
cials decided to recommend
cuts to the McKinney Act —
the federal program providing
some $378 to cope with the
growing problem of home-
lessness.
But the Council of Jewish
Federations Washington Ac-
tion Office picked up hints of
efforts to decimate the pro-
gram, and swung into action.
The CJF played a major role
in the development of the
original aid-for-the-homeless
legislation, and in its recent
renewal.
"It was a cooperative effort
between CJF, the Red Cross,
and the Catholic and Protes-
tant groups," said Mark Talis-
man, director of the CJF's
Washington Action Office.
"We made our concerns
known to the administration
— and they directed O.M.B. to
lay back. So the program will
be presented to Congress as-
is!"
tions Universal Declaration
on Human Rights.
Both congressmen have
been at the forefront of a
number of human rights bat-
tles, including the ongoing
effort to ease emigration
restrictions against Soviet
Jews. Porter, who is not
Jewish, played a key role in
short-circuiting a recent
Department of Defense plan
to prevent the implementa-
tion of last year's "Yarmulke
bill!'
More and more, the Baha'i
group has been allied with
major Jewish organizations
on civil and human rights
issues, and they have been
strong coalition partners in
the effort to free Soviet Jews
— an interest forged in the
harsh environment of Kho-
meini's Iran, where members
of the Baha'i faith have been
severely persecuted.
Boschwitz Vs.
Mondale
In 1990?
Now that the 1988 election
is in the record books, politi-
cal junkies are looking ahead
to upcoming elections. And
several races have already
sparked the interest of Jewish
activists here.
According to numerous re-
ports, Sen. Rudy Boschwitz,
(R-Minn.), a leader in the
Baha'is Honor
Jewish
Congressman
Rep. Ibm Lantos, (D-Calif.),
a leading member
of the Jewish delegation on
Capitol Hill, was one of two
House members honored last
week for contributions in the
area of human rights.
The National Spiritual
Assembly of Baha'is in the
United States honored Lantos
and Rep. John E. Porter, the
co-chairmen and founders of
the Congressional Human
Rights Caucus. According to
a Baha'i representative, the
award was a way of honoring
the entire caucus on the an-
niversary of the United Na-
Rudy Boschwitz:
In for the fight of his life?
Capitol Hill Jewish delega-
tion, may be in for the fight
of his life in 1990.
Former vice president Wal-
ter Mondale, who also repre-
sented Minnesota in the
Senate, is testing the waters
for a bid against the conser-
vative Boschwitz — and, so
far, the waters look just fine.
Such a campaign season
would have some interesting
wrinkles, from a Jewish
perspective. Mondale has en-